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Byron Shire
March 21, 2023

Byron Bay commentary

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Election 2023 – Lismore: Part II local and state issues Q&A

We asked all candidates for the seat of Lismore the same set of questions. This is the second round of answers. Their responses are in the order they arrived in our inbox.

Lismore candidate Vanessa Rosayro

With just a few days until we head to the polls, The Echo asked the candidates for the seat of Lismore one last bunch of questions.

Bangalow Theatre Company’s got Hair

Gimme a head with hair/ Long, beautiful hair/ Shining, gleaming/ Streaming, flaxen, waxen/ Give me down to there hair/ Shoulder length or longer/ Here, baby, there, mama/ Everywhere, daddy, daddy/ Hair – hair, hair, hair, hair, hair/ Grow it, show it/ Long as I can grow it/ My hair…

Lismore candidate Adam Guise

With just a few days until we head to the polls, The Echo asked the candidates for the seat of Lismore one last bunch of questions.

David Morris, Byron Bay

Regarding Sue Lennox’s letter about Byron Bashing letter, I have to say I’m not familiar with her tabloid media references and journalists’ commentary therein. But I can imagine that it’s all part of a ‘silent contract’ that the media seem to have with publicity interests – tourism, business, real estate etc and this place. The odious usage of Byron as a brand name!

It always amuses me that some people, who often sneer at royalty, will coo over, or defer to, so-called celebrities, or the wretchedly labelled ‘Á-listers’. Not much of the old egalitarian Aussie society in that, is there?

I fail to see why, just because one lives in a place, one should adopt an ‘Everything in the garden’s lovely’ attitude and suspend one’s critical faculties.

It is precisely because I care about the place that I complain about the overwhelming impact of what is being foisted on this town. And how it seems to be in the rapid process of irrevocable change – and not for the better, in my opinion.

Elsewhere I have described the town as being one of the greed hubs of Australia. I still hold that opinion. Of course, change is an axiom; even in antiquity there was awareness that all is in flux. A Bermudian millionaire visiting here in the eighties told me he thought the place was ‘stagnating’. I told him years ago that he ought to see the place now (no doubt he’d approve).

I have no space to list all the ways I believe this place is being legally abused by free-booting capitalism in action. Doubtless the losses I could describe would be meaningless to many. Though I’m sure quite a few might agree. The town is simply being sold off, regardless of any consequences to the local community (such as still remains) and the ‘liveability’ of the place.

The sun shines pleasantly, the sea is blue, the spring blossoms are a picture; citrus flowers scent the air, but… I fear that all in the garden will not, in the long run, be well. (Call me Cassandra, if you will…)

And, I recall someone saying years ago that part of California’s problem was it started to believe its own publicity.


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2 COMMENTS

  1. Well said.
    Byron Bay which is the correct description is stuffed.
    Never heard of a town called Byron but Byron Bay exists.
    These blow ins who shorten names are the real problem +
    the real estates who see money money money no how
    much it F…s the town/

    • Alluding to anyone in particular Frank Mcdonald? Your attitude to ‘blow ins’ has contributed to Byron Bay’s downfall. It serves you and your likes right.
      DD a.k.a Dee Dee

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